#FarewellCandlestick: The 100 Greatest Moments in Candlestick Park History #15

#16 is here.

#15 October 7, 1989 1989 NLCS Game 3 

Tied a game apiece in the NLCS this game was also tied, 3-3 in the top of the 7th, Don Robinson – replacing Jeff Brantley who replaced Buffy Lacoss – gave up a leadoff double to Rick Sutcliffe (consider that with your modern eyes, Sutcliffe hit for himself in the 7th inning of a 3-3 Game Three in the NLCS) – he moved to third on a Jose Uribe error – and then scored (actually -Maddux, pinch running) on a Ryne Sandberg sac fly, putting us down 4-3. 

Sure, if you’re committed enough to Sutcliffe to let him hit – maybe you let him run from third base in that spot, but I’m not Don Zimmer.

Les Lancaster came on – and Robby Thompson beat him with what would turn out to be a game winning 2 run homer.  They got a couple hits off Robinson in the 8th – but we held on to take the series lead.

The 14th Greatest Moment in Candlestick History is tomorrow.

#FarewellCandlestick: The 100 Greatest Moments in Candlestick Park History #16

#17 is here.

#16 January 14, 2012   Vernon Davis

The 49ers hadn't won a playoff game in 9 years.  That looked to end in this divisional round game when we went up 17-0 early in the second quarter on Alex Smith TD passes to Vernon Davis/Michael Crabtree.

With 4 minutees left though, the Saints had come all the way back, going up 24-23 on a 44 yard Drew Brees to Darren Sproles touchdown.

Two minutes later, Alex Smith was taking a 3rd and long 28 yards into the end zone on a planned quarterback sweep to give the Niners the 29-23 lead.

That lead held up for only 30 seconds, Brees going 66 yards to Jimmy Graham - the Saints were up again, 32-29 with 1:37 to play.

Then it was Davis - a 47 yard reception getting the Niners into position; and then on third and 4 at the Saints 14, the winning score from Smith.

180 yards receiving for Davis - and the Niners were back in the NFC Title Game.

2013 - 10 Best Television Shows

1. Mad Men
2. Breaking Bad
3. Arrested Development
4. Veep
5. Orange is the New Black
6. The Americans
7. 30 Rock
8. Enlightened
9. Parks&Recreation
10. Big Brother Australia

Mad Men's the best show on TV; deeper and richer than the rest of the field, I feel about it the way most people feel about The Wire.

Speaking thereof - how much unanimity would there be on a list of the Top 10 TV Dramas of All Time?

Not the order, necessarily - but the composition.  If we were to ask 100 television critics for their top tens, wouldn't 80 ballots contain all of the following five:

Mad Men
Breaking Bad
Sopranos
The Wire
Hill St. Blues

There'd be a greater dispute about the rest of the list (and the order, oh the order) but I'd be super surprised is there weren't 80 ballots with those 5.

Let's do the rest of my list while we're here, no particular order:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Shield
thirtysomething
The West Wing
Friday Night Lights

Were I composing a list of the 10 Best Sitcoms of all time (not today) Arrested Development would be on the list; its return will be better appreciated when the level of intricacy of its use of the Netflix model is appropriately understood.  Veep took a leap forward in its second season; Orange is the New Black was as good as its twitter buzz; The Americans is the show Homeland isn't anymore; on that Top 10 sitcom list (really, it's not coming today, stop asking) is 30 Rock, which finished strong; if you gave up on Enlightened, you missed its strongest (by a wide margin) season; Parks is the most consistent sitcom on television - and the show you didn't watch was Big Brother Australia, the best effort from my favorite global franchise.

NFL Supercontest Week 15

Last week is here. I'm 33-36-1.

Houston +5.5 Indy loss
Miami +2.5 NE win
NYJ +11 Carolina win
GB +7.5 Dall win
San Diego +10.5 win

4-1

37-37-1

#FarewellCandlestick: The 100 Greatest Moments in Candlestick Park History #17

#18 is here.

#17 August 10, 1989 Dravecky

In Dave Dravecky's first baseball game in over 14 months, having surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from an arm he would later need to be amputated, he returned in a pennant race to go 8 innings, giving up 4 hits and striking out 5, beating the Reds (in Pete Rose's last ever trip to Candlestick Park) 4-3. Dravecky walked more times (2) than he gave up walks (1).

His arm snapped in half in his next start.

Matt Williams homered, doubled and drove in 3 runs; the Giants extended their NL West lead to 3 games in what would become their first pennant winning season in over a quarter century.

The 16th greatest moment in Candlestick Park history is tomorrow.